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The Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was the name of the empire controlled by Damo2986 in his play through of M2TW: Stainless Steel. History Before 1100, the Kingdom's fortunes were mixed. King Afonso Henriques had seized power, and had then had to fight off incursions, including one by his own mother! By 1100, King Afonso ''el Valiente ''was ruler of Oporto, a city surrounded by enemies, including the Moors in the south, and the Kingdom of Leon in the east. King Henriques In 1100AD, King Henriques decided on a new strategy - his son, also named Afonso, would oversee the development of his castle, while his cardinal converted people to Christianity, and he himself led his army to expand the kingdom. He sent Lobo Pires, a spy, to have a peek at Lisbon, the King's next target, currently controlled by Iberian rebels, and he got inside quickly. Using his information, the King started marching to Lisbon, while sending a merchant to the Moorish cities in the south. On the way to Lisbon, in the next year, the Moorish Caliph died, and the Prince was named Duke of Oporto. Princess Urracca acquired a faithful servant, and the King, when notified of her negotiating charm and skill, sent her as his diplomat to the north of the Iberian peninsula. The Battle of Lisbon then ensued, and Lobo Pires had managed to open the gates, dramatically changing the outlook of the King. In the event, the battle was a close-run thing, but Portugal prevailed; however many men died, and whole units of cavalry and infantry perished in the street fighting. The King was very disappointed with the losses, but they had captured Lisbon, a vital city with a port. Pires was then sent east, and discovered Seville, a castle under the control of rebels, and King Henrique proceeded to immediately have a look for himself! He built a watchtower, and looked for non-existent mercenaries. The next year saw many changes - Moorish and Léon diplomats approached Lisbon, while a Moorish army was spotted near Seville and an army from Léon built a watchtower near their border with Portugal. A new diplomat, Damiao Paiva, was trained, and was immediately sent to negotiate with the Moors - but the negotiations broke down. Princess Urracca, on the other hand, had considerably more luck, and managed to secure an alliance for Portugal and Leon, and the Leon faction heir as a husband for herself. He was called Prince Sancho, aged 22, and the wedding was celebrated throughout the two kingdoms. In 1103AD, Prince Afonso got engaged as well, and the Moors moved towards Seville. Things were relatively quiet for the next few years: Seville fell to the Moors; diplomats crossed the entire Iberian Peninsula, and found a rebel city, Valencia, on the opposite coast, and the Kingdom of Aragon; and an army was slowly built. In 1107, an alliance was made with Aragon. In 1108, during a battle with rebel forces, King Henrique was severely wounded. The next year, Damiao met with a French princess, securing trade rights and maps, for a small sum of cash, while a merchant tried to acquire a rival's business, and failed, leading to the reverse happening. The preparations for war continued, while diplomats explored ever outwards. In the year 1111, Leon and the Moors declared war on each other, while the Moors simultaneously declared war on Portugal, by blockading Lisbon's port. An attempt to convince the Aragonese to join failed, but the King (or rather, his advisors) had a brainwave: to ask the Pope for a crusade against Silves; however, the request was rejected. In the next year, the Moors joined the jihad against Jerusalem, and declared war on Aragon, while diplomat Damiao Paiva tried multiple times to convince the Pope to a crusade, but failed. Angered by this seemingly uncaring attitude, the King marched into Moorish lands, while their armies converged around Seville. Hoping to draw the defenders out, the King engaged the main army, but only some minor reinforcements arrive, which were easily defeated by weight of numbers. The King then besieged Seville, and captured it after a long battle. Worried about the prospect of a new Arab army, led by Captain Ummayah, attacking him, he immediately started retraining and recruiting, his people following as they considered his words as nothing less than divine mandate. In 1113, the Pope did call a crusade, against Cairo, and the King, sensing an opportunity, proceeded to hire many Crusader mercenaries, but he also planned to only 'crusade' against his own targets - the Moors. Marching towards Cairo, he 'encountered' Captain Ummayah's army, and proceeded to completely wipe it out, capturing over three times the number his army killed, in a stunning victory. Not content with wiping out this force, he proceeded to lay siege to Cordoba, the Moorish capital. In the next year, a new family member, Filipe, was born, to the King, Leon laid siege to Murcia, and the king was diagnosed with pneumonia. Upon receiving news of a large Moorish army near Gibraltar, the king, following the advice of his council, decided to abandon the crusade and attack Silves instead. On the way he beat and ransomed a small force led by a Moorish family member. In the year 1115, to everyone's shock, the Moors managed to bribe the governor of Seville onto their side. In an act of revenge, the King slaughtered the Moors inside Silves, and took the city quickly. The king's army suffered massive desertions the next year, as crusading troops left to find a more 'favourable' master. This left the kingdom in an extremely vulnerable position. King Afonso retreated to Silves, while convening an emergency meeting of his council. They made two plans: to train as many troops as possible, and then station them at chokepoints, and to have a backup, a fleet of ships that would sail to a new place, where the kingdom would take up roots again. The Pope died, and although Cardinal Manuel was in the running, the position eventually went to a Danish cardinal. The king recruited many more troops and mercenaries, Damiao Paiva was recalled from the Dalmatian coast, and Salvador Teles found gold near the Sahara. In 1119, the Pope bit the dust, and although Manuel was still in the running, he failed to get the job. The next year, Leon declared a truce with the Moors. Due to increased recruitment, the king had almost got what is known in military circles as a full stack of troops. In 1122, the King laid siege to Seville and captured the city, defeating the armies outside although being greatly outnumbered. In the next year, the King decided his primary aim was to capture Cordoba, and defeat the large army outside it. He combined the remnants of his last battle with some reinforcements to form an army at full strength. He denied funds for local priests to join a council, still smarting at the Pope's last decision, while finally Afonso produced a son, a baby boy, named Sancho. The King ordered Damiao, now in Murcia, to check whether the governor would like a bribe, and was shocked that they even entertained the idea, and even more so, that they asked 14760 florins for it - a price which the kingdom could afford! However, he was forced to reject the idea, on the grounds that the region would be unsupportable. Sancha failed to get a Norwegian family member to marry her, and continued onto Denmark. The King marched on Cordoba, but found, to his consternation, that he couldn't reach that year. However, in the meantime, the Moors attacked his army, in an even battle that would decide the fate of Portugal! After a stirring speech from the King himself, the army defeated the Moors while suffering heavy losses, while another Moorish army marched into the region of Silves, and the Portuguese cardinal died. Prince Afonso adopted a son, called Vitor Resende, and Silves's entire garrison took a sortie to block the invaders. A spy was sent to have a peek at the lands of Leon near Oporto, the King perhaps not trusting his neighbours fully since they agreed a ceasefire with the Moors, and Damiao Paiva was allowed to 'convince' the governor of Murcia to hand over his city to Portugal, for a bit of cash, of course (14000 florins). The invading army marched out of Portuguese lands, but the King was attacked by another force, superior in numbers, outside the gates of Cordoba. After a huge battle, where the Portuguese forces were decimated, King Henriques became the last man standing of his own bodyguard, and the enemy commander managed to fight off a few units of Portuguese forces on his lonesome, the King came through victorious. He captured Cordoba, but then, having been afflicted with pneumonia for several years, died. Cordoba had been his parting gift, and he would forever be remembered as the founder of this mighty empire, originally only one small village in the northwest of Iberia. King Afonso The King's first act, after being crowned, was to adopt another son, called Lourenço Portela. He had inherited a kingdom in pretty dire shape. Murcia was in riot, Silves not far behind, and the remnants of his father's army were just that - remnants. However, there was a large Aragonese army near Cordoba, which the King hoped was going to help. He removed himself to Oporto, while one of his adopted sons took reinforcements to Cordoba, and also renamed Seville to Badajoz, as he felt in a dream. He also recruited many more priests, being more religious than his father. Garrisons were built up in Cordoba and Badajoz, to deal with the Moorish threats from the south, and spies were sent southwards into Moorish lands in Africa. In 1128, Sicily, with the support of their Pope, laid siege to Murcia. The old king's youngest son, Filipe, came of age, and a daughter was born to the king, Francesca. He was immediately sent down to Badajoz. Damiao Paiva managed to convert the leader of the Sicilian troops to the Portuguese way of thinking for a paltry sum of money. King Afonso managed to convince the Pope to call a crusade on Granada, to his and his advisor's delight. Prince Filipe was chosen as the man to lead it, and elaborate plans were drawn up. However, a spanner was thrown in the works when a) the Moors besieged Murcia out of nowhere and b) the Aragonese suddenly appeared next to Granada. The nearest family member was immediately thrown into the job of getting to Granada before Aragon, and they tried to bribe the besieger of Murcia, but negotiations broke down. In 1131, Granada was besieged by the crusading army, and Murcia was left free. The King of Aragon died in 1132, and Filipe took Granada, ending the crusade. The remaining forces congregated in southern Iberia, near the straits of Gibraltar, guarding the entrance to Portuguese lands. Ships blockaded a Moorish port, and the invasion of Africa was planned. The Sicilians besieged Murcia the next year again, and were summarily bribed off. An army was assembled under Filipe, near the Straits of Gibraltar, to invade the Moorish lands, while Laurenço took the secondary, inferior force, onto the ships to be going down to Marrakech. In 1137, a Portuguese bishop was promoted to the College of Cardinals, to the delight of the pious king. The invasion force under Laurenço set sail to Marrakech, while Filipe set off to capture Fes. Another cardinal was promoted the next year, and Sancho, the son of the King, came of age. The Aragonese also appeared outside Oran, with an army, to the delight of the King. A new cardinal was promoted the next year, and Melila was taken, the first African settlement, by dividing the enemy army. In a Pyrrhic victory, Filipe conquered Fes, losing more men than he killed. The Prince, Vitor, adopted a son, Egas, and despite being beaten back earlier, the Aragonese brought another army to Oran, while the Moors took a settlement in the east. Category:Lets Play Category:Protagonists Category:Factions